Obama has cut number of federal employees

February 1, 2013

Regarding "Frustration with the federal government ..." described in The Journal's editorial from Monday, the 21st of January ("A Party Apart"), be careful what you wish for. You might get it. If the federal government were to "leave us alone" West Virginia would certainly be left much worse off. The difference between the larger number of dollars flowing into West Virginia from Washington versus the smaller number of dollars we send to Washington yearly in fact equals more than twice our state's annual GDP. We get a lot more from Washington, at least as measured in dollars, than we give. Citizens of our state get about $2.50 back for every dollar we send to Washington. We're in the top tier in that department along with Mississippi, New Mexico and the District of Columbia.

The Great Depression lasted 10 years or so, from 1929 until about 1940. It ended when increased spending for World War II stimulated our economy. Federal spending was more than 50 percent of U.S. GDP at that time. We were, of course, fighting a war. The Great Recession we are only now coming out of will certainly be shorter, but it's been very expensive. More government spending to help people has been necessary. This includes increased spending for Medicaid, food stamps and for people out of work. Federal spending was 20.8 percent of U.S. GDP in 2008, peaked in 2009 at 25.2 percent and is projected to be 23.3 percent in 2013. The size of government has certainly increased, but not as much as one would think considering that many people needed help during these last four years. The number of federal employees, by the way, has actually decreased during Obama. We now have about the same number of people employed by the federal government as we did in 1989.